


Banana Pancakes

by Medicaition



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi yearns for a good nights rest, Bokuto Koutarou is a Good Significant Other, Bokuto has the grace of a bull in a china shop, Bokuto is really bad at anything non-volleyball but he's trying his best, Domestic Fluff, Editor Akaashi Keiji, Fluff, In which banana pancakes are a vessel to show love, M/M, Pro Volleyball Player Bokuto Koutarou, Timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28612248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medicaition/pseuds/Medicaition
Summary: Lately Akaashi has been more stressed than content at work, a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed by Bokuto. A long talk on the phone after one of Bokuto's matches leads to Akaashi giving away just how much his work has affected him. The embarrassed sleepy conversation leads to Bokuto getting an idea in his head that he just can't shake, rushing home on a late night flight to surprise Akaashi with the ultimate show of care:Breakfast in bed.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Banana Pancakes

The click of the counter sounds, followed by a series of crashing as pots and pans create a metallic avalanche in their descent down to the linoleum floor. Bokuto jumps out of the way to avoid a small saucepan from falling on to his foot as gold eyes clench closed and fingers cross straining his ears to hear the sound of any movement could be heard from the adjoining rooms. A lid from a pot jitters ringing out on the room until it claps to a stop with the added weight of Bokuto’s foot pressing to it and stopping its vibration. He waits a long moment, and then another, trying to go as quiet as he possibly can manage to be -- huffing in a breath to hold it waiting to make sure the sleepy, overworked, writer hadn’t stirred from the cacophony in his kitchen. 

Bokuto strikes a quick victory pose, balling his fist, lifting his left knee and curling in on himself as he lets out a quiet ‘Nice!’ at the small success of not accidentally waking Akaashi. Relaxing his stance he continues back on to his mission, setting aside the pots that had fallen in search of a griddle he could set up. He had one goal, and one goal only; make Akaashi breakfast so that he can start his morning out happy and for once not stressed! 

It was something that came up very recently over a call, listening to the sleepy tones of Akaashi’s while Bokuto was in the throes of bliss from winning a game against the Red Falcons rambling on about his game while Akaashi tried to work. At some point during his raving he caught the faint snores coming from the other end, falling to a full stop to listen for a few minutes before an alarm went off somewhere in Akaashi’s apartment causing the man to stir and apologize swiftly to Bokuto. He had tried to play it off casually, explaining that he was listening but work has been unrelenting in their current deadline mumbling that both he and Tenma had been surviving purely on onigiri and coffee as of late. 

That comment stirred Bokuto’s current mission to life, and he quickly waved off his teammates, got himself the first flight home and wound up in Akaashi’s apartment just as the night ticked over to one am. He crashed on the couch to prevent the small steely eyed man from knowing he had snuck in with the spare key the night before, making sure to set his phone by his ear so the alarm would (hopefully) only wake him up. Not that it mattered now at seven thirty-five with a mountain of cookware on the floor, and his goal of finding a griddle now unsuccessful. 

He opts for a deep set cast iron pan instead, working on heating it up as he steps over the mess he made on the floor to find a glass bowl, dragging it down to the counter before scouring for a whisk. Slowly but surely collecting everything he might need to make the perfect pancake breakfast for Akaashi Keiji, a man that surely deserved more than just a simple breakfast, but was able to accept anything that Bokuto could possibly give him. 

Just one problem.

Bokuto’s not really sure how to make pancakes.

Sure it sounds easy in practice, the recipe on his phone didn’t seem too hard; afterall, it’s just flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, egg -- okay it was more than he really thought went into pancakes. Though he won’t be dissuaded! He’s Bokutou Koutarou, and he would not be beaten by a simple combination of various white substances and bananas!

He follows the recipe as accurately as he can, not wanting to mess these up and end up having to clean the kitchen and throw out something he worked hard on. Still, as he’s stirring the flour into the mixture of egg, milk, and banana he can’t help but think this may end up being too easy. Everything is working out as the recipe said, and he begins to wonder if this will be enough to perk up the exhausted man. Fingers tap down into the counter as the pan heats up, his thick brows furrowing as he hums a little in his throat. Admittedly he didn’t consider the possibility of Akaashi disliking just simple pancakes when he formulated the idea, but now he can’t seem to get the look of disappointment crossing Akaashi’s face when he looks at them out of his head.

With a little whine in his throat he decides to go all in or scrap it all before he makes a fool of himself. He’s going to do the impossible, he’s going to wow and awe his partner! He’s going to make owl pancakes, a great and perfectly branded Bokuto themed plan! He pats himself on the back mentally as he tries to formulate how on this great green earth he’s going to manage this, giving a quick google to figure out how people make pretty pancake art and pulling up pictures of owl pancakes to go along with it.

He manages to make a makeshift piping bag from a spare snack bag, awkwardly trying to pour the batter into the bag as he splashes some on to himself -- learning quite quickly that he should have waited to cut the hole in the bag until it was filled. Bokuto scrambles, plugging the hole with his finger and making faint distressed noises as some spills out onto his shirt and pants. It was salvageable, and after some awkward fiddling he starts piping out a fairly large owl onto the hot pan following an image to the best of his ability. 

It doesn’t look nearly as nice as the picture, looking more like an amorphous blob with horned owl feathers as it starts cooking in the pan. Sighing out a breath of relief he lifts a hand up to wipe some sweat from his brow, effectively smearing more batter across his forehead and into his hair. Bokuto feels accomplished, even though he still had to flip the pancake and plate it and then find a way to wake up Akaashi without scaring the very life from him. 

A minute ticks by and he thinks quietly to himself, head tilted to the side as he rocks forwards on to the balls of his feet and then back to his heels.

“I should do fruit too…” he mutters to himself, stepping away from the pan to pull open the fridge rooting through it looking for fruit he can add to the plate. Luck must be on his side, finding some kiwis which he deems would be perfect for owl eyes, strawberries he can slice for feathers, and a little bit of whipped cream for decoration. He’s exuding pride as he sets those down next to him — moving to flip the pancake over as the black plastic spatula crunches between the pan and pancake.

Wait, crunches? 

Flipping the pancake over he notices a couple things at first glance. Firstly, the pancake got a touch too dark on his outline of the owl; making the features that are supposed to be seen quite prominent but also undeniably burnt. Secondly, the pancake appeared to have a crust. Not a soft golden exterior with a fluffy inside, instead it feels a bit too solid, and makes a soft scratching noise when he runs the spatula over it. He could have sworn he did everything right, he added everything together, all the various white ingredients into the bowl with milk and egg and barely mixed like the recipe said.

Well maybe it’s just overcooked! 

Scooping one burnt owl out of the pan and onto a plate, he tries again. He carefully tips the mangled bag of batter back over the pan, tongue sticking out with his effort of concentration as he tries again. Moving faster this time he’s able to line the owl and fill it in without issue, feeling rather proud of his work and adoring the fact that this one actually had owl features and didn’t look like Picasso’s attempt at a bird. Instead of stepping away to get fruit he watches the pan intently all but bouncing as he waits to flip it over, counting down the seconds and bringing the spatula closer to his creation in a slow and vaguely intimidating motion. “Come on, beautiful pancake, come on..” He mutters to himself leveraging the spatula under the carbohydrate bird.

**Crunch.**

“NOOOO!” He wails, forgetting all subtlety as he flips it over seeing that familiar crusty exterior again. “Why?! Why are you crunchy? Please pancake gods what have I done to forsaken you?” Spatula held high within the air, batter splattered over himself and the counter, and standing in a fog of disappointment and hurt as his head turned high to the sky to speak to an unknown entity.

This is what Akaashi Keiji awoke to, what he had padded out to view with glasses askew and messy hair and rumbled sleep shirt and pants. He blinks a few times registering the mess in his kitchen, and the mess of a man standing defeated in it. 

“Kou?” He calls out to Bokuto softly, watching the way the two-toned haired owl of a being tenses and rapidly drops his hands back down to the counter frantically flipping his pancake onto a plate and raising a hand waving rapidly at Akaashi. Bokuto can feel the blush on his cheeks at the use of the gentle abbreviation of his name, leaving him scrambling as he tries to make the breakfast for Akaashi presentable. Hands move to pull out a knife to slice the fruit when a gentle hand places itself against his wrist stilling him in his motions.

“Bokuto-san what are you doing?”

The cool voice pulls Bokuto’s attention over his shoulder, forcing gold eyes to meet the intense blue-green stare of Akaashi. A lump races into his throat as his heart all but leaps into it, keeping him from speaking for a second longer than normal. The hesitation earns the faintest of head cants from Akaashi as fingers move up to brush his forehead, likely checking for a fever to find assurance that the rising star of Japan was either okay or dramatically ill. They stand in the kitchen, frozen with Akaashi’s hand on his flushed and pancake batter covered features as one waits for a response, and the other waits for his throat to clear enough for him to speak. 

“Well I… you said you were surviving on Onigiri, and that you had all these big deadlines coming up, and you were so tired on the phone!!! I thought if I could come make your breakfast to take some stress off your morning routine you would feel better about meeting your deadline.” He offers sheepishly, leaning into the hands as they wipe batter off his face in careful motions. 

“That was last night- Bokuto-san did you… did you buy a plane ticket and fly here from Osaka? You really didn’t have to do all of that, though I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I’m fine, really.” Akaashi assures softly, pressing his hand down from his face to his shoulder with gentle touches. 

“Too late to worry about the fact that I didn’t have to, because it’s already done!” He steps out of the touch to pull forward the plate of crispy owls, one burnt, one looking fairly cute if not for the crust along the edges of the cake. “I made owl pancakes for you! Though I… ah I don’t know how good they are, they’re hard.” He mutters, looking a bit sheepish as he shifts awkwardly from foot to foot. 

“As in you struggled with them, or they’re actually hard?”

“Both! I struggled more than I want to admit, and they’re kind of crispy!” He laughs, fully and heartily as the plate shakes in his hands. “I was going to add some kiwis for the eyes and whipped cream to maybe let some more moisture in and make it less crispy? Is that possible?” He muses to himself rocking back to lean against the counter, almost settling himself right atop the heated stove.

“How?” A pause as Akaashi takes a breath, his eyes darting between the misshapen pancakes and the uncertain smile on Bokuto’s face, “I should ask a better question than how, that may be too vague. Did you walk away while cooking them? Or did you oil the pan?” He asks calmly, trying to find a way to reassure the big lug while reaching over to turn the heat off on the burner of his stove. Even now, things could still be touchy with Bokuto’s feelings outside of volleyball. Small things can mount slowly into bigger things, causing an avalanche of spiraling downward emotions and a complete shutdown of Bokuto. 

The tall man considers this briefly, humming softly as he considers each step he had gone through moments ago. “Well, I walked away but only for a second to get fruit from the fridge which caused the first one to burn. I used a little bit of butter in the pan, but not a whole lot because the recipe said that too much will cause the outside to cook too quickly leaving the inside mush.” He sets the plate to the side and motions over to the ingredients for Akaashi to look over for himself. 

At a glance nothing seems out of the ordinary, leaving Akaashi to sit and wonder just where it could be that Bokuto fell off the track and came up with a crispy treat instead of a fluffy buttery one. “Crispy pancakes sound like they could still, probably, taste good?” He offers with a hesitant smile up to the slight taller man. “I’m willing to give it a go, what’s the worst that could happen?” The worst that could happen is he ends up spitting it into his napkin, and they both pretend that this never happened. Akaashi had hope that it would not end like that as such an ending would completely take away from the sheer amount of effort it took for him to even make this small breakfast. 

Plus the sudden perk up of Bokuto’s mood was enough for Akaashi’s battery to feel recharged, even if just a little. The smile that meets his back is radiant, blinding Akaashi in the light of a brilliant star. He only is able to savor a mere moment of that radiating heat, forcefully turned back by the tall spiker towards his small table and urged to sit on the ground as Bokuto finishes up the final touches on his surprise breakfast. 

Soon a small plate with little whipped cream hearts sat in front of him flanking the one, unburnt, owl pancake. The owl’s eyes were thinly cut kiwis giving a flare of green color and adorable creativity to the dish, while the strawberries had been cut into small feathered shapes to serve as the owl’s wings. With all it’s additions, the little messy owl comes out surprisingly adorable leaving Akaashi to stare at it before chuckling softly. “You never cease to amaze me, Bokuto-san.” 

However, the first bite is enough for Akaashi to understand just what was wrong with the pancake before him. It crumbles in his mouth in an unpleasant, cracker-like, way that takes away from the sweet flavor that blossomed on his tongue. “Ah.” He reaches around for a drink, finding none in sight, and instead clears his throat quickly. “Bokuto-san, is it possible you may have forgotten the butter in the batter mixture?” 

A ding goes off in Bokuto’s head as goes through step by step what he did for the recipe, slowly starting to deflate as he realizes that he had been too excited to mix the banana into the dry mixture that he missed out on adding in the butter to the mixture. He lets out a gasp that turns into a groan, hands moving to lace in his hair as he leans forwards. “Butter! I forgot the butter!!!” He squints down at the pancake, muttering a faint, “I see what I’ve done now, pancake gods, you have my humblest apologies.” 

Akaashi sputters once at the mumbled confession, leaving him to stifle his little laugh into his hand as he watches Bokuto glare at the pancake. “Pancake gods?” He questions, before shaking his head and taking another bite with some of the fruit and whipped cream to help it go down smoother. He chews it slowly considering the flavors as they mingled together slowly wetting the crumbly consistency of the dough with the cream before putting together his proper ‘criticism’ of Bokuto’s work. 

“If I’m being blunt?” Akaashi watches Bokuto already begin the process of defleating, “It’s still quite good! The crumbling of the dough and it’s overall dryness leaves a lot to be desired, so you lose some points for that; however, it’s still perfectly edible. I dare say if you had added the butter, it’d have been delicious.”

Akaashi likely would have said something similar even if the meal had come out absolutely atrocious, but the fact that the recipe had come out mostly right and still tasted fairly good was enough to bring the brilliant star’s smile out to play again. Bokuto straightens up to his full height, eyes widening along with his grin as he beams down at the seated Akaashi. His entire body was practically vibrating with elation. “Edible is good right? I did alright?!” He asks quickly, rocking back on to his heels before almost toppling over, forcing him to correct and lean forward. 

“I wouldn’t say amazing, but you’ll just have to make it again sometime soon to reach that point of excellence.” 

The next second is filled with a whirlwind of motion as Bokuto all but leaps down onto Akaashi, wrapping his arms around him and squishing Akaashi’s face into his muscular chest. “I’ll check my training schedule! I’ll see when the next time I can leave for a couple days to do this again, Keiji!!!” The jubilant nature of the large man is contagious, leaving Akaashi laughing quietly against his chest as his head shifts to press his cheek against the muscle to speak unhindered by the cloth he wore. 

“I will need you to promise to make less of a mess the next time, Bokuto-san.” 

Warm lips press against Akaashi’s forehead, brushing back some of his dark hair with his hands softly. “Don’t you worry about the mess, I’ll make sure to clean it up while you edit! You can pretend I’m not here!” He beams unbothered by the way his chin pressed into himself, undoubtedly giving Akaashi a rather unflattering angle to look up to. 

Still, the smaller man smiles as he withdraws from the grip that held him close while ascending up towards the ever thoughtful star that filled his life with so much life. His lips press gently to Bokuto’s, nothing more than the faintest of pecks that gave way the weeks spent in longing for the center of his universe to return. In this moment he could feel the stress of his work fading off of him as he gets wrapped in the momentum and energy that Bokuto released. As he pulls back gunmetal blue eyes meet with brilliant gold, staring deep into the other as red lips part to speak in their quiet moment of intimacy;

“I don’t think I could ever do that, Kou.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this, and spent a good amount of time just focusing on Bokuto's desire to take stress off of Akaashi's shoulders. I really enjoy their dynamic and how no matter how much Bokuto fails he never gives up in the end, and will always have the support of Akaashi to see him through to the end. 
> 
> I have a twitter if you'd like to hang out with me over [here!](https://twitter.com/medicaition)


End file.
